Book of the Month is a subscription box in which members choose up to 5 hardcover books to receive each month.
You can sign up here to get your first book for $5.
This month, Book of the Month (BOTM) chose six main selections, two initial add-ons, and four mid-month add-ons.
Main Picks | Add-Ons | Predictions | My Choices
Main Picks
The Helsinki Affair
Anna Pitoniak
Are you mission-ready? This hard-nosed, globetrotting espionage story will leave you questioning everything around you.
Spy Thriller | Repeat Author
The Last Love Note
Emma Grey
Let those tears flow! You will be quickly won over by this widowed single mom learning to let love back into her heart.
Contemporary Fiction | Early Release
Again and Again
Jonathan Evison
In this moving paean to storytelling, an old man regales his nursing assistant with tales that blur fact and fantasy.
Contemporary Fiction
What the River Knows
Isabel Ibañez
If you’ve ever identified with Indiana Jones, you must read this lush and fantastical romp through 19th-century Egypt.
Young Adult
This Spells Love
Kate Robb
Be careful what you wish for: an attempted memory wipe of a bad ex leaves a young woman a stranger to her best friend.
Romance | Debut & Early Release
Let Us Descend
Jesmyn Ward
Haunting and haunted, this is the powerful story of an enslaved girl seeking redemption with the help of her ancestors.
Literary Fiction | Repeat Author
Add Ons
The Future
Naomi Alderman
From the author of The Power, a bracing new dystopian novel about a near-future riven by inequality and climate change.
Dystopian | Repeat Author
Check & Mate
Ali Hazelwood
In Ali Hazelwood’s YA debut, chess rivals play major gambits with each other’s hearts and minds on and off the board.
Young Adult | Repeat Author
Mid-Month Add Ons
Five Years from Now
Paige Toon
They say timing is everything. Well, two childhood friends who had to wait twenty years for their due would like a word.
Romance
The Mystery Guest
Nita Prose
In this follow-up to The Maid, Molly Gray may need some help to solve the murder of an acclaimed author at the hotel.
Mystery | Repeat Author
Alice Sadie Celine
Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
Posing urgent questions about female friendships and romance, the story of a transgressive affair in ’90s-era Berkley.
Literary Fiction
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love
Lex Croucher
Come hang out, we’re queering Camelot. Sword fighting, found family, and first love—all the medieval hijinks are here!
Young Adult
Predictions & Thoughts
There are six main, two initial add-on, and four mid-month add-on Book of the Month (BOTM) selections for November, including one debut and five books by repeat authors. Two of the books are labeled early releases with The Last Love Note publishing November 28th and This Spells Love publishing December 5th.
I predicted 8 out of 12 books correctly in my November predictions. Because so few books are published in November and December, I did not look at any December releases, and thus, missed This Spells Love. I also waffled back and forth whether or not to include Again and Again in the predictions but ultimately left it off. To be honest, Five Years from Now was no where on my radar. However, the other mid-month add-ons were either included in my November predictions or was going to be included in my December predictions (I did not count this as a correct guess).
I was a little sad to not see a few books among the selections, including The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters, The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell, and The Beautiful and the Wild by Peggy Townsend. I must say that I have been disappointed in the number of debut authors BOTM has featured this year.
For those of you hoping for The Mystery Guest (The Maid #2), I think it will show up in December since it is released November 28. And surprise, it was a mid-month add on!
Update: I am surprised to see that BOTM added not one, not two, but four mid-month add-ons. I am curious to see how many add-ons will be part of the December drop. Except for Five Years from Now, all of these add-ons are November 28th releases. Five Years from Now was released on November 21st (and was the first to show up on the website); however, the e-book has been available since at least February.
My Choices
I found it easy to select which books to ship in my November box.
I have been waiting for months for Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward. When BOTM did not include it as an October selection, I made the bet that they would for November. I have an e-ARC but still wanted a BOTM copy to match my other BOTM copies of her books. Jesmyn Ward was one of the first authors I discovered through BOTM and remains one of my all-time favorites. If you read Let Us Descend and love it, I highly recommend adding Sing, Unburied, Sing and Salvage the Bones to future boxes.
The Future was another book I was looking forward to BOTM carrying. I read The Power back when it was a BOTM selection and enjoyed it. My spouse read it last year and did not, citing a few problematic issues, but I still have not revisited it. Regardless, I was looking forward to what Naomi Alderman came up with next. If The Power did nothing else, it definitely made me think and had a fast-paced story. I am hoping for much the same in The Future.
As I have said before, I am not much of a young adult reader. It is simply my personal preference. If I am interested in a YA book, I typically wait until I see some reviews to determine if it will be “too YA” for me. Consequently, I automatically skipped What the River Knows, Check & Mate, and Gwen and Art Are Not in Love.
I somehow missed when putting together my predictions that Anna Pitoniak is a past BOTM author. I have only heard of her last novel, Our American Friend. I like a spy thriller every now and again. I find that they typically are fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat books full of global drama we lay people do not often hear about. I am jumping on this spy train and adding it to my box.
I am still avoiding books that are sure to make me sob (and will continue to do so in the near future). As a result, I had no interest in The Last Love Note. I am sure it is a great story, but my life and the world is sad enough for me right now.
I actually love BOTM’s description for Again and Again. I knew the book was highly anticipated, but it was a bit unclear what the story is about. I decided to give this one a shot and add it to my box. I think it will be different from any other books I have read this year.
Initially, I scanned right over This Spells Love. In creating this post, I took a closer look and was happy to see it is a debut. Despite spooky season being over, I love the idea of having the power to wipe your memory of exes who should remain in the past. Also, I have been reading more romance recently in my attempt to keep the fictional worlds I find myself in light and hopeful. So This Spells Love is on its way to me.
As for the mid-month add-ons, I already have a copy of The Mystery Guest thanks to Penguin Random House. Alice Sadie Celine should be a solid read, but I am not interested in reading it right now. While I have heard the name Paige Toon, I do not know anything about her books. I think the plot may be upsetting for me and will skip it for the time being.
What books did you choose for your November BOTM selections? Let me know in the comments!
